The 78th Group Army (),
Unit
Unit may refer to:
General measurement
* Unit of measurement, a definite magnitude of a physical quantity, defined and adopted by convention or by law
**International System of Units (SI), modern form of the metric system
**English units, histo ...
31669, formerly the 16th Group Army, is a military formation of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Ground Force (PLAGF). The 78th Group Army is one of thirteen total
group armies
Group armies () or army groups or combined corps, are corps-level military formations of the People's Liberation Army Ground Force of China. Despite what the name suggests, current Group Armies are not army-level formations, but corps-sized f ...
of the PLAGF, the largest echelon of ground forces in the
People's Republic of China
China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...
, and one of three assigned to the nation's
Northern Theater Command
The Northern Theater Command () is one of the five Theater command (China), theater commands of the People's Liberation Army, founded on 1 February 2016. Its predecessor is the Shenyang Military Region, Jinan Military Region and Beijing Militar ...
.
History
The origins of this army go back to
Nanchang Uprising. After People's Republic of China was established, it belonged to the 62nd Group Army for a while.
On February 19, 1949, column 1 of the Shanxi-Hebei-Shandong-Henan Military Region in Henan Shenqiu area became the 16th Army of the People's Liberation Army, was placed under the 5th Corps of the PLA
Second Field Army.
Yin Xianbing (尹先炳) was appointed army commander.
Organization
It was composed of the
69th,
46th, 48th, and 4th Armored Divisions, the 68th brigade and an artillery brigade.
In 2006 the formation consisted of the:
*Headquarters, Changchun, Jilin
*46th Motorized Infantry Division, Changchun, Jilin
*48th Motorized Infantry Brigade, Tonghua, Jilin
*4th Armored Division, Meihekou, Jilin
*Artillery Brigade, Yantian, Jilin
*AA Brigade, Changchun, Jilin
(Source Blasko 2006, 76)
In 2013, the formation consisted of the:
*Headquarters, Changchun, Jilin
*
46th Motorized Infantry Division (the ''Red Army Division''), Changchun, Jilin
*
69th Motorized Infantry Division,
Harbin
Harbin, ; zh, , s=哈尔滨, t=哈爾濱, p=Hā'ěrbīn; IPA: . is the capital of Heilongjiang, China. It is the largest city of Heilongjiang, as well as being the city with the second-largest urban area, urban population (after Shenyang, Lia ...
, Heilongjiang
*
48th Motorized Infantry Brigade, Tonghua, Jilin
*
68th Motorized Infantry Brigade (People's Republic of China),
Qiqihar
Qiqihar (also spelled Tsitsihar) is the second-largest city in the Heilongjiang province of China, in the west central part of the province. The built-up (or metro) area made up of Longsha, Tiefeng and Jianhua districts had 959,787 inhabitants, w ...
, Heilongjiang
*
4th Armored Division, Meihekou, Jilin
*Artillery Brigade, Yanbian, Jilin
*AA Brigade, Changchun, Jilin
Note Blasko 2013, lists the 4th Armored Division as a division, not as a brigade.
(Source Blasko, Tradition and Transformation of the PLA, 2013, 89)
In 2017, the formation consisted of the:
*Headquarters, Harbin, Heilongjiang
*
8th Heavy Combined Arms Brigade ()
* ()
* ()
*
115th Medium Combined Arms Brigade ()
* ()
* ()
*78th Special Operation Brigade () (formerly the 67th Brigade)
*78th Army Aviation Brigade ()
* ()
*78th Air-Defense Brigade ()
*78th Engineering and Chemical Defense Brigade ()
*78th Service Support Brigade ()
Notable members
General
Xu Caihou
Xu Caihou (; June 1943 – 15 March 2015) was a Chinese general in the People's Liberation Army (PLA) and vice chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), the country's top military council. As vice chairman of the CMC, he was one of the ...
, former vice-chairman of the
Central Military Commission Central Military Commission may refer to:
*Central Military Commission (China), the highest national defense organization in the People's Republic of China.
*Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of Vietnam, the highest body in Vietnam ...
(CMC) who was detained as part of a high-profile anti-corruption campaign, was a former member of the 78th Group Army.
Lieutenant General
Bi Yi, the incumbent commander of the
People's Liberation Army Information Support Force
The People's Liberation Army Information Support Force is an arm of the People's Liberation Army. It provides support for coordinating the construction and application of network information systems. It was established on 19 April 2024.
Hist ...
, was a former deputy commander of the unit.
[https://web.archive.org/web/20220630152536/https://www.thepaper.cn/newsDetail_forward_2126255; Archived from th]
original
on 2022-6-30
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:78th Group Army
Field armies of the People's Liberation Army
Northern Theater Command
Shenyang Military Region
Military units and formations established in 2017